Freeze or Fall

Chapter 2: Dreams and Gut Feelings

Mumbo fell asleep and found himself face to face with Taurtis again.

"Uh.. Hi again I guess." Mumbo mumbled, not sure what to say.

"Hi Mumbo, uh, I only have a little bit of time until I wake up and so much to say. Please don't question me as I infodump on you."

Mumbo was a little surprised at that, but nodded.

Taurtis seemed to relax a bit before continuing. "I'm trying to fix a problem and I need your help. I need you to build a robot. Doesn't matter how it looks or anything, as long as it's got a standard AI and an answering system. You need to remember that when you wake up. Build a robot. Can you do that?"

"Yes, but can I inquire why?" Mumbo asked, puzzled.

Taurtis bit his lip. "It'll help you get Grian back."

Mumbo's eyes widened. "Wait-"

"Any more information is too dangerous. Remember to build a robot. Okay?"

"O-okay."

And then he felt that tug that would bring him back to consciousness. Taurtis was right, he had no time. Mumbo quickly began thinking "robot" over and over again, praying he'd be able to remember it long enough to jot it down when he woke up.

Okay build a robot.

Build a robot.

Build robot.

Robot.

.

.

Mumbo's eyes snapped open. "Robot, Build a robot." He muttered, grabbing a book and jotting it down.

He wasn't sure why, but something in his dream had told him to build a robot.

That's... strange.

But he didn't have any other projects going on at the moment aside from his base, so Mumbo wrote it off as dream inspiration and reached for his agenda. Then he paused.

For the mayoral race, which was over now, he'd considered building a Mayoral Bot for advice. He'd only been running for mayor thanks to Hermit Challenges, and had no clue how to do a campaign. 

Perhaps... Perhaps he could try it, not sure what the robot would be for now. Maybe just a simple AI and answering system. yeah, that would work. Maybe he'd make a smaller version first, like a junior version, for debugs.

Mumbo chuckled as he jotted down the ideas, grateful to have an excuse to procrastinate on his base.

Now to locate his redstone shulker.

______________________

"Gri?"

Grian didn't say anything, but scooted over, inviting Taurtis to sit next to him. Taurtis obliged, putting an arm around Grian. The small builder snuggled up to him, not taking his eyes off the orb.

"You feeling any better?" Taurtis asked.

Grian answered with a tired mumble. "A little."

Taurtis studied the blonde's face. He still looked sickly, but at least his eyes looked clearer, finally letting him see that familiar bright blue instead of the muddled green the illness had been showing.

"You feeling well enough to head back to the house?"

Taurtis noticed Grian hesitate.

"I... I think so?"

"Here, I'll help you walk." Taurtis helped Grian stumble to his feet, the fae leaning heavily on him. Taurtis quickly scooped up the orb and handed it to Grian to carry before the two stumbled off.

When they arrived, Ex was waiting for them. He quickly helped Grian to a bed, Taurtis grabbing a few more blankets to make the player comfortable. Then Grian voiced a small request.

"Do you guys have a.. um.. flower? It's important."

Taurtis nodded, checking his inventory. "I got one right here." He waited a couple seconds for Ex to close his eyes, before pulling out the flower and handing it to Grian.

The flower drooped a little, but didn't die. Grian gave a small sigh of relief and handed the flower back. Taurtis placed the flower back in his inventory before nudging Ex with his foot, who opened his eyes.

"I was checking my anxiety levels, it's a bit dangerous for you guys if it's too high." Grian explained, rubbing his eyes. "That's one of the reasons I isolated myself."

Taurtis sat down next to him, rubbing his shoulders. "It's alright. So, how has Hermitcraft been?"